If you don’t know how I run lifestyle newborn sessions, this post is for you. Lifestyle newborn sessions are a mix of documentary, lifestyle, and portraits. They last two hours long, and they can be lots of fun even though the parents are stressed and sleep deprived!
During these sessions, I like the babies to be between five days old and twelve days old. I have found this is the sweet spot, where the babies can easily be put to sleep for the entire session with the tips I share with the parents before the session. I can get great sleeping images and the baby is just old enough we start to get some interesting faces, too! I like to document the in between moments of diaper changes, siblings fighting for attention, and even moms nursing the baby. If family is visiting, I’ll try to make sure I capture some of those, too. (There is a small extra charge for anyone not part of the household you live with, though.)
I have wraps, fillers, and baskets, and generally, if the baby is sleepy when I arrive, I will start a lifestyle newborn session with the baby’s solo portraits. Once the baby needs a change in diaper or we feel brave enough to change outfits, I may do some more. If the baby is going to be gone for a long time, I’ll get photos of the nursery, siblings, fur siblings. I’m always shooting, trying to document the entire world the baby was brought home to.
Once solo portraits are wrapped up, I like to get images of the baby with mom, dad, mom and dad together, siblings (if they’ll cooperate – fur and human), and the entire family together. Sometimes, if there is time available at the end, I’ll try to sneak in a few more solo portraits. I love, love, love detail shots, but if there are relatives visiting or more important shots for the parents, I’ll capture those first.
These sessions are two hours long, but they go very, very fast. My goal in lifestyle newborn sessions is to give you variety. I know studio newborn photographers work very hard to get just a few posed images, and I’ll be honest, I’m not patient and that’s not my cup of tea. I love showing you what life was like with a newborn, and I love giving you variety images so you can use them for birth announcements and art in your home.
Generally, you want to book your newborn sessions between 20 weeks and the start of your third trimester. I will put your due date on my calendar, and stay in touch to make sure your pregnancy is on track as your due date approaches. I was lucky that since I teach received my COVID-19 vaccine in February, so I feel much safer coming into your homes, masked up with everything cleaned and sanitized, documenting your most precious baby.
If you would like to book a lifestyle newborn session, e-mail me at teresa@tcjdesign.com or send a message through my contact page. Pricing can be found on my Investment page! Enjoy getting a glimpse of little Ronak’s session!
